White Ribbon Day

Part of Questions to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:47 pm on 12 November 2019.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:47, 12 November 2019

Well, I thank Mike Hedges for bringing this question and standing up and speaking as an ambassador, and also, obviously, reflecting on Jack Sargeant's impact and influence on this. We, of course, will be very shortly working towards the day where we acknowledge White Ribbon Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. That's on 25 November, and I also look forward to joining Joyce Watson, and I'm sure many of you will, on the twenty-fifth, when we have a cross-party stakeholder event. I hope this is very much recognised cross-party in this Chamber today. But also recognising that the Welsh Government has a national strategy in terms of implementing our pioneering Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. I think it's so important today that we take on board that message of, 'Don't be a bystander,' in terms of domestic violence and violence against women. Wales won't stand by. That's linked very closely to the White Ribbon campaign message.

But in terms of the public sector, there are four local authorities, two fire and rescue services, two police forces and one town council in Wales that are accredited, as well as the Older People's Commissioner for Wales. I think we can use this year to, again, strengthen recognition and awareness raising amongst the public sector to ensure that we move on from the 28 White Ribbon ambassadors that we've had, many of whom are in key leadership roles within the Welsh Government.